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Canada’s new health minister made a quiet visit to the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) headquarters last Saturday (October 21).

Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal MP for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, made the stop in the Downtown Eastside while out west for a meeting with provincial counterparts in Edmonton held the day before.

She was joined by Canada’s defence minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan, though Taylor did most of the talking.

The pair met with VANDU president Lorna Bird and a number of long-time members, including Hugh Lampkin and Dave Murray.

Also in attendance was the president of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD), Jordan Westfall, Vancouver Coastal Health’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Patricia Daly, and Dr. Kenneth Tupper, a director with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.